Mr Obama's Back-To-School Speech

I have a very straightforward opinion about President Obama's choice to talk to students about doing well in school and setting goals, etc. I think that it was a brilliant idea. Really, having one of the most influential presidents that we've ever had give students a speech like that was absolutely amazing, and very well spoken, according to the results that I've read about the kids who actually heard the speech. The one thing that I can't understand is why some parents just didn't want their kids to hear it.

It's absolutely outrageous, really. Who wouldn't want their kids to hear a speech from such a high figure in society about doing well in school and achieving their dreams? Do you really think that the President of the United States would try to brainwash your kids into his ideals? If you also think about it, most, if not all, of the parents against President Obama's speech were against President Obama in the first place. I personally believe that this is plain selfish. Kids should be able to figure out what political party they support by listening to what's going on by themselves, not by being brainwashed by their parents. When most of my friends were finally making this big decision, they went along with what their parents thought, and this really isn't right. Kids also shouldn't have to recite the Pledge Of Allegiance without knowing what it means. They're making an unbreakable oath to respect the country without even knowing what they're saying! And I'm sure that none of the elementary school kids in America came here because they wanted to be a meaningful citizen. They were either born into the country, or they're parents wanted to be meaningful citizens. And just think about it, making a child recite an unbreakable promise that they don't even understand, and making a child a republican because that's what their parents chose to be. It's all brainwashing.

Fox News, a well known conservative news broadcasting company, wrote an article not too long ago, expressing the protests about showing the speech in school (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/08/obama-schoolchildren-stay-school-responsibility/). Notice that the entire article is about people that were against the speech, and had nothing about the people that were all for it, but that's Fox News for you. The part that bugs me is where Jim Greer says that he is "absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama's liberal socialist ideology". How dare he simply assume that President Obama, of all people, would brainwash kids, as I said before. It's just a completely biased assumption.

Yahoo, on the other hand, gave the full story (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090908/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_school_speech). Or results from both sides, anyway. All three sides, really. Students, Liberals, and Conservatives. The only problem is, although I liked this article more than the Fox News article, it made me even more furious than how I was about the ignorance of Fox News. It was just the examples that were used from the people that were against the speech.... "Mr. President, Stay Away From Our Kids," they said. No. Why in the world would he abandon the perfect opportunity to improve the future so that you can brainwash the future into hating him? I would say more about this, but my English teacher will be reading this post. Like he said, CHILDREN ARE THE FUTURE. A perfect metaphor, expressing the truth.

-Genergizer